1. Field of Endeavor
The present invention relates to sample preparation and more particularly to a modular microfluidic system for biological sample preparation.
2. State of Technology
Nearly all biological assays require front end sample preparation to process a complex sample such as blood, saliva, or urine and extract the biological material of interest. Benchtop techniques, such as membrane filtration, centrifugation, and chemical methods, have demonstrated preparation of biological materials from a wide range of complex fluids. Robust, automated sample preparation, however, remains an open challenge. The automated sample preparation system of the present invention will perform the critical step of preparing complex samples from environmental aerosol collectors for whole bacteria, intact virus, RNA, DNA, and protein testing by a variety of downstream assays. The automated sample preparation system of the present invention goes beyond solid-phase extraction methods and offers distinct advantages over traditional approaches including: 1) significant reductions in genomic and protein background concentrations via bioparticle fractionation; 2) reagentless processing, requiring only simple, stable buffers; 3) compatibility with a large range of input sample solution properties; 4) high recovery efficiency due to low-surface area; 5) high-throughput (order 100 μL/min) with the ability to handle a large range of volumes (10 μL to >1 mL); and 6) straight-forward integration into a small, automated, fieldable system.